a tactile comic book designed for the blind by philipp meyer

‘life’ – a tactile comic for the blind by philipp meyerall images courtesy philipp meyer

interaction designer philipp meyer has created a short comic that can be read by people without the ability to see. conceived with the intention of being a 100% tactile storytelling experience, the user can explore the story by interacting with paper in a braille-like format. the experiment completely re-imagines how a person uses their senses, translating visual scenes and environments into more adequate and accurate interpretations of a comic strip. through raised text and 360 degree figures, the concept aims to quickly communicate a story with a variety of different techniques such as faded embossing and variable heights.

for the full interactive experience, visit the meyer’s website, where a digital version of the comic can be found.

‘life’- a tactile comic for the blind

the user can explore the story by interacting with paper through a touch in a braille-like format

variable height – the height of the first character gets lower towards the center

mix: the third character is a mixture of the two other characters – it gradually fades from left to right.

the 360 degree forms are influenced by old low resolution computer screens

numbers – for a better understanding, the first four panels are numbered. in braille, numbers start with the number sign # followed by a letter

fade – character embossing height is reduced in each panel

the braille text on the front page is translated to latin script underneath